Young Joshua Aparicio continues to garner accolades for his outstanding oratorical skills. Earlier this month, the award winning six year old earned top honors from two local organizations for his speeches.

The Ministers’ Wives and Ministers’ Widows of Inglewood and Vicinity presented Joshua with the ‘Praying Hands Award’ at its 27th Annual Prayer and Minnie Houston Scholarship Breakfast on March 3.

His speech, ‘Defining The Dream in an Era of Change,’ drew applause and praise from the audience along with an invitation from President Mary Cotton to speak at next year’s event.

On March 9, Joshua won the Cesar Chavez Award for his address on ‘The Preservation of Cultural Diversity Nourishes and Strengthens Our Community.’ Next, he will compete with other students at the District Celebration for Cesar Chavez on March 24.

Joshua, a second grade student at Oak Street Elementary School, won the Inglewood School District Martin Luther King Speech Contest in January and has since spoke at Inglewood’s King Day Ecumenical Service, Liberty Baptist Church, First Lutheran Church of Inglewood, and Bible Enrichment Fellowship International Church where his family attends. . “We are so proud of Joshua. He is a well-rounded, high achieving student who is on the honor roll and recently won his school’s spelling bee. He enjoys reading for pleasure and is fascinated with many subjects,” said his mother, Mrs. Shirmin Aparicio.

“Joshua is a Christian and knows God has good plans for his life. While he has not decided what he wants to be when he grows up, the opportunities are endless and at the academic rate he’s going, the sky is the limit for him,” she added.